Huaorani Lodge Ecuador (Shell)

Huaorani Lodge Information

Stay with one of the most isolated ethnic groups on Earth and enjoy immersing yourself in Huaorani culture. Explore the lodge trail system and see the Huaorani food market, hardware shop and playground. Navigate the waterways of the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve on kayak or stand up paddle boards and visit the waterfall as part of our camping trip.
Huaorani Lodge merges the Amazon Rainforest and Huaorani culture to create a unique and unforgettable Amazonian experience. The award winning Huaorani Lodge is situated at the headwaters of the Amazon and is operated by one of the world’s most isolated ethnic groups, the Huaorani. You will learn how to use a blowgun, climb trees, smear your face with red achiote, and take a two day meander down the Shiripuno river in kayaks or dugout canoes. Here, you will watch tropical birds and monkeys while listening to an indigenous leader relate the tribe’s fight against oil exploration. With luck, we will meet Moi Enomenga a conservation hero honored by National Geographic and the Buffett Foundation. The Huaorani are high energy, fun-loving people and they expect you to immerse in their culture and customs. Visit, learn, act, share and inspire!

Huaorani Lodge Rooms

Housing a maximum of 10 people in five comfortable and traditional palm thatched cabins, which contain a pair of twin beds (can be joined to create a double if desired and triples for small families with a young child), private bathroom, and a porch with comfortable chairs.
The dining area has a lightly stocked bar and the whole area is covered with traditional Huaorani-style palm thatching. Other structures include an employees’ dormitory, an Administrator’s house, two storage buildings and, perhaps most importantly, the “Casa de Hamacas” (Hammock House) on the edge of the Shiripuno River for those few occasions when you are not engaged in activities away from the Lodge.

Bathrooms

Each Huaorani Lodge cabin contains a private bathroom with a shower and flush toilet. Environmentally friendly soaps and shampoos are provided.

Electricity

Electricity is supplied 24 hours a day by solar panels.

Food

At the Huaorani Lodge the restaurant provides nutritionally balanced meals, hygienically prepared with care by the local chefs, who use locally grown produce wherever possible. Fruit, tea and coffee are always on hand and a bar is available for beer, wine and soft drinks.

Huaorani Lodge Location

The Amazon accounts for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers. It is estimated that 16% of all river water passes through the 320 km/200 mi wide delta. In comparison, the Mississippi River ranks 10th in the world in discharge and is only 1/12 that of the Amazon.
To be more precise, you are at approximately 300 m/984 ft above sea level near the community of Quehueri`ono on the upper Shiripuno River in the Huaorani territory, 30 minutes short flight from the small city of Shell.
You arrive after 4 hours drive from Quito at the third busiest airport in Ecuador in the town of Shell (yes, after the oil company), where constant flights in and out of el Oriente. You take off around noon in a light aircraft heading northeast, gawking at the green vastness below punctuated by rivers and settlements, and land in the Huaorani community of Quehueri’ono 45 minutes later to be greeted by your hosts.
You are then poled downstream in a shallow dugout canoe, enjoying the thick vegetation growing along the Shiripuno River. You arrive at the intimate setting of Huaorani Lodge to settle in, exactly where you want to be.

Camping with the Huaorani

The Campsite, situated in the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve has a spectacular setting on the banks of the Shiripuno River and it’s the perfect base to discover the Nenkepare Waterfall, one of the Ecuadorian Amazon’s most breathtaking wild sites.
A rich cultural canoe and walking program will expose you to various facets of the Huaorani life: blowgun demonstrations, fire making, hammock weaving, food preparation and home construction are some of the many different experiences you will share. During the evenings, you will chat with your Huaorani guides on the local culture and spiritual beliefs, as the tell you ancient stories passed down from their ancestors who also occupied the same forests you will visit.
This adventure is for reasonably fit guests and is led by experienced naturalists guides.
Visit, learn, act, share and inspire!

Facilities

The well-constructed and comfortable Huaorani Adventure Campsite, provides basic accommodations with the surrounding environment and the Huaorani culture.
The accommodation consists of tents set on four individual raised platforms, one meter above the ground. Each tent protects you from the mosquitoes but is open to the fresh air and the sounds of the forest, for an authentic adventure camping experience. The campsite has shared bathroom with running water (non heated).
Meals are taken in the dining area located on the banks of the Shiripuno River. In the evening there is an open fire where guests congregate and chat over the day’s events.
The campsite has no electricity and candles provide light. A generator is turned on once a day to pump water from the river. Please bring your cameras charged and a good flashlight. Common areas and toilet

Food

The Huaorani Adventure Camping offers full board and meals are prepared on a separate raised open platform where a local cook manages a fully equipped kitchen.
Meals are prepared with care, integrating organic local products with a variety of ingredients brought from the general region.

Location

The Amazon accounts for about 20% of the total water carried to the oceans by rivers in the world. Camping alongside the upper Shiripuno river, allows you to see one of the many small tributaries where all that water comes from.
The camp is located close to the community, Nenkepare, and around a three-hour drive and boat ride from Coca in one of the borders of the Waorani Territory.